Sen2Cor v2.8 installation packages are provided as standalone installers. For a short introduction of how to install the standalone version of Sen2Cor, read the installation steps described in section 4 of the release note S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-SRN-V2.8.pdf
The main new features in the Sen2Cor_v2.8 release include:
- Support of the L1C generated with the current (14.5) and previous (14.2) Products Specification Document, as input.
- Improvement of the spatial homogeneity of surface reflectance between adjacent tiles.
- Improvement of the terrain correction algorithm in mountainous areas, in order to avoid artefacts for pixels under semi-transparent clouds.
- Improvement of the terrain correction algorithm, in order to avoid adjacent tile discontinuities in terrain correction for seemingly flat areas with gentle slopes.
- Improvement of the Scene Classification of snow/ice, enabling the detection of snow above frozen lakes and icebergs in Arctic and Antarctic Sea.
- Improvement of the RAM consumption, which is now less than 4 GB.
- Optimization of the JPEG2000 files reading time with the support of OpenJPEG 2.3
More detailed information on the evolutions of Sen2Cor v2.8 and how to install the standalone version are available in the dedicated Software Release Note: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-SRN-V2.8.pdf.
It is important to know, that the default configuration of the L2A algorithm provided with Sen2Cor version 2.8 is the same configuration as for the L2A “Core” Products processing in Sentinel-2 Ground Segment with L2A processing baseline 02.12. Therefore, no further tuning should be required on user side to get L2A Core Products. In order to generate products compatible with the L2A Core Products it is necessary to set the usage of a Digital Elevation Model to improve Scene Classification and have the activation of ESA-CCI data-package to be downloaded here and installed. The usage of ESA CCI data package for Sen2Cor v2.8 is detailed in the dedicated Software User Manual: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-SUM-V2.8.
The only differences between “L2A Toolbox” and L2A Core Products are reported in the following table:
| Category of Difference | Difference | L2A Toolbox | L2A Core Products |
| Product Format | HTML Folder | No | Yes |
| Manifest | Same Set of Items but arranged in different order | ||
| Product Quality Metadata | Copied from L1C | Generated by L2A On-line Quality Check (OLQC) | |
| Radiometry at Pixel Level | Digital Elevation Model | e.g. SRTM/DEM defined by the users | PlanetDEM |
| JPEG2000 encoding library | OpenJPEG | Kakadu | |
The evolution of the processing baseline used to process Sentinel-2 L2A Core Products in Ground Segment are reported in the L2A Data Quality Report.
For any questions about the usage of Sen2Cor, please follow the general STEP forum area dedicated to Sen2Cor: http://forum.step.esa.int/c/s2tbx/sen2cor.
Latest release:
- 2.8 – It was released on February 21, 2019. This version runs on the operating systems: Linux, Mac OSX and Windows (64 bit is mandatory). For details about the features and fixes, see the release note.
- Standalone installers:
Linux installer: Sen2Cor-02.08.00-Linux64.run
Mac installer: Sen2Cor-02.08.00-Darwin64.run
Detailed information on all changes implemented in the new format of Sentinel-2 L2A product is available in the dedicated documentation online: Sentinel-2 Products Specification Document (PSD)
Release Note: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-SRN-V2.8.pdf
Software User Manual: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-SUM-V2.8.pdf
Sentinel-2 Level 2A Product Definition: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-PDD-V14.5-v4.7.pdf
Sentinel-2 Level 2A Input Output Data Definition: S2-PDGS-MPC-L2A-IODD-V2.8.pdf
The schemas of the GIPP file, GIPP AC, SC, and PB files relative to Level-2A products are attached to the IODD document as a *.zipp attachment. The attachment should be saved, and renamed as .zip to enable it to be opened.
Enjoy!